In general, a fiber composite such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) or glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) prepared by mixing a continuous fiber such as a carbon fiber or a glass fiber with a plastic resin is a composite material having a light weight and excellent mechanical properties, and is thereby used in various fields requiring light-weight properties and mechanical strength.
In recent years, the above fiber composite has replaced steel vehicle parts in the automobile industry, which is required to reduce vehicle weight, so it is being applied to manufacturing of various vehicle parts to reduce vehicle weight.
Resin transfer molding (RTM) and compression molding are mainly used to manufacture vehicle parts such as a hood by using the fiber composite. The above two methods include preforming a semi-finished product such as a dry fabric or a prepreg.
Since a produced preform has a high impact on quality of a final product, it is advantageous to mold the preform to have a shape as similar as possible to the final product.
Conventionally, a hand layup method or an apparatus comprised of upper and lower molds is used for producing the preform.
However, the hand layup is problematic in that quality of the preform varies with skill of an operator and it requires long manufacturing time. In the conventional apparatus, when the preform has a complicated shape, unmolded portions are generated. In addition, when the shape of the preform is required to be changed, both the upper and lower molds must be replaced, thereby causing an increase in costs.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present invention, and is not intended to mean that the present invention falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.